GAMMA Investing LLC Raises Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 114.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,739 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,068 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WRB. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 563.2% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 1st quarter worth $44,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $58.11 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $57.69 and its 200 day moving average is $55.50. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $41.82 and a 1 year high of $61.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $58.67 to $55.33 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.89.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.